In producing a fibrous mat, such as a tissue sheet, on a fibrous mat making machine having a roll former, such as a Crescent former, it is common for one or both edges of the fibrous mat to be lower in basis weight than the center of the mat. This lower basis weight at one or both edges can lead to productivity delays due to tears. Since the edges are trimmed off later in the manufacturing process, the effect on the finished fibrous mat is minimal unless the low basis weight area is very wide. When the non-uniformity of the basis weight extends beyond the width of the material that is intended to be trimmed off of one or both edges, the quality of the manufactured product will be affected.
Therefore, there is a desire and need by manufacturers to improve the strength of the edges of a newly formed fibrous mat, as well as obtaining basis weight uniformity at the edges of the newly formed fibrous mat.